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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009the shape of a mark
Let me ask a qestion about the description of how a mark is shaped, in a novel. I looked at Mervyn's handiwork: a hasty curling cross with two diagonals almost joined in a circle on the right side. (Proof,p 285, by Dick Francis) Context: In a storeroom for whisky, Mervyn had put a handwritten mark on carton boxes, which the speaker is checking on. Qeusiton: I could hardly get a precise image of how this mark is shaped, from what is described. I tried to imagine and draw the shape on my own. Take a look at it here if you may. http://autosu.hp.infoseek.co.jp/photoshop/02.jpg > Let me ask a qestion about the description of how a mark is shaped, in > a novel. > > I looked at Mervyn's handiwork: a hasty curling cross with two > diagonals almost joined in a circle > on the right side. (Proof,p 285, by Dick Francis) Mervyn was trying to make an X shape by first drawing the \ stroke downwards and then the / stroke downwards, but he was in a hurry, so he moved the pen in a nearly circular motion and only lifted it off the paper for a moment. Something roughly like this, although probably less symmetrical and maybe with the sharpest curves in different places: ### ### ### ### ######## ### ### #### ### ### ## ### ### ## ### ### # ### ### # ### ### ### ### ### ### ###### ##### ### ##### ###### # ### ### # ### ### # ### ### # ### ### # ### ### # ### ### ## ### ### ## ### ### #### ### #### #### ### ####### ### ### Note: for this diagram to have the correct appearance you must view it in a monospaced font, like Courier.  SignatureMark Brader, Toronto "When you say 'non-trivial', can you msb@vex.net quantify that for me?" --Kate Hamilton My text in this article is in the public domain. Thanks for your clear explanation, so that I could understand perfectly. > Thanks for your clear explanation, so that I could understand > perfectly. It's a quickly scribbled X. You can see this in handwritten letters, too, especially back in the time when Roman numerals were used. >> Let me ask a qestion about the description of how a mark is shaped, >> in [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > Note: for this diagram to have the correct appearance you must > view it in a monospaced font, like Courier. OK. Good. Mervyn dragged the pen most of the way between the strokes of the X. That reminds me of how I drag the pencil from the end of my name back to dot the "i" and and then further back to cross the "t". Sometimes I almost make two loops. Upon reading the description, I am afraid I had a _really_ "bent" Cross of Lorraine. Pat Durkin filted: > Upon reading the description, I am afraid I had a _really_ "bent" >Cross of Lorraine. Cross of Lorraine's easy to describe...there's one in a familiar logo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/88/Exxon_logo.svg ....r Signature"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!" "You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!" > Pat Durkin filted: >> [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > ....r Couldn't open the .svg, and couldn't find an application to download (that I was willing to try). Abbreviating the url by dropping the Exxon. . , or the 88, or the 8, brought up the 403 error, and indicated I need to join or sign on. Is that because it is an upload file process? I should say I am familiar with the Cross of Lorraine, and only mentioned it as an image called by the two crossbars. I don't think they are crossed on the diagonal, but by bending or bowing the CoL, the bars would become diagonal, though at differing angles. Pat Durkin filted: >> Cross of Lorraine's easy to describe...there's one in a familiar logo: >> [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >I need to join or sign on. Is that because it is an upload file >process? There's some technobabble on the page with the .svg explaining how the artist created the file from an Encapsulated PostScript document...but it should be visible if you simply Wiki the name "Exxon"...if that doesn't help, here's the same logo elsewhere on the web: http://www.the-boulevard-mall.com/exxon/exxon.jpg >I should say I am familiar with the Cross of Lorraine, and only >mentioned it as an image called by the two crossbars. I don't think >they are crossed on the diagonal, but by bending or bowing the CoL, the >bars would become diagonal, though at differing angles. The one in the logo is bent only where it would come out of the ground....r Signature"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!" "You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!" > Pat Durkin filted: >> >>> Cross of Lorraine's easy to describe...there's one in a familiar >>> logo: >>> >>> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/88/Exxon_logo.svg > There's some technobabble on the page with the .svg explaining how > the artist created the file from an Encapsulated PostScript [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > The one in the logo is bent only where it would come out of the > ground....r Thanks for trying again. It never occurred to me to think of the Exxon logo as anything but the double "X" connected. And, for some reason (DeGaulle?) I alway image the CoL as tilted to the right. Silly me! (And, of course, I don't image the two bars as being equal in length.) Pat Durkin filted: >> http://www.the-boulevard-mall.com/exxon/exxon.jpg > >Thanks for trying again. It never occurred to me to think of the Exxon >logo as anything but the double "X" connected. And, for some reason >(DeGaulle?) I alway image the CoL as tilted to the right. Silly me! >(And, of course, I don't image the two bars as being equal in length.) It probably wouldn't have occurred to me either, except that Isaac Asimov used it in one of his "Black Widowers" mystery stories...some young woman with small English mentioned seeing the Croix on a train trip, and the assembled writers tried to figure out where she'd been from this clue....r Signature"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!" "You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!" > Mervyn was trying to make an X shape by first drawing the \ stroke > downwards and then the / stroke downwards, but he was in a hurry, [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > ### > ### If you allow the circle to be closed, you get the little fishie symbol that Dutch teachers use to mark answers correct. I had wondered if it was a variant of the letter G, perhaps, but this makes more sense -- a variant of X. SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux Mark Brader: > > Mervyn was trying to make an X shape by first drawing the \ stroke > > downwards and then the / stroke downwards, but he was in a hurry, > > so he moved the pen in a nearly circular motion and only lifted it > > off the paper for a moment... Donna Richoux: > If you allow the circle to be closed, you get the little fishie symbol > that Dutch teachers use to mark answers correct. I had wondered if it > was a variant of the letter G, perhaps, but this makes more sense -- a > variant of X. Makes sense. Except for using it to mark answers correct. Everyone knows X is for *wrong* answers! Oh, those Dutch! SignatureMark Brader | "It can be amusing, even if painful, to watch the Toronto | ethnocentrism of those who are convinced their msb@vex.net | local standards are universal." -- Tom Chapin My text in this article is in the public domain. > Mark Brader: > > > Mervyn was trying to make an X shape by first drawing the \ stroke [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Makes sense. Except for using it to mark answers correct. Everyone > knows X is for wrong answers! Oh, those Dutch! That was familiar to me from my teaching assistant days. Graded a lot of Physics homework back in the day. I make mine the opposite of your ASCII art version. I start in the upper-right corner of the X, slash down to the lower-left, circle to the upper-right, and finish with a slash down to the lower-right. Brian SignatureIf televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up. -- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com) "Brian": > I make mine the opposite of your ASCII art version. I start in the > upper-right corner of the X, slash down to the lower-left, circle to > the upper-right, and finish with a slash down to the lower-right. Right? I think not. SignatureMark Brader, Toronto "But I want credit for all the words msb@vex.net I spelled *right*!" -- BEETLE BAILEY > "Brian": > > I make mine the opposite of your ASCII art version. I start in the > > upper-right corner of the X, slash down to the lower-left, circle to > > the upper-right, and finish with a slash down to the lower-right. > > Right? I think not. Correct. Retry: I make mine the opposite of your ASCII art version. I start in the upper-right corner of the X, slash down to the lower-left, circle to the upper-LEFT, and finish with a slash down to the lower-right. Brian SignatureIf televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up. -- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com) >> "Brian": >>> I make mine the opposite of your ASCII art version. I start in the [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > upper-right corner of the X, slash down to the lower-left, circle to > the upper-LEFT, and finish with a slash down to the lower-right. But I get almost a lower case ampersand, or an "almost @ sign", because after the NE-to-SW stroke, I loop back to the E and then to the NW, and finally the stroke NW-SE. To re-examine/restate, that is almost the way I do my surname initial, D, with the Palmer slant. >Makes sense. Except for using it to mark answers correct. Everyone >knows X is for *wrong* answers! Oh, those Dutch! When I was in Finland, they used a percent sign (or something visually indistinguishable) for correct answers. -GAWollman SignatureGarrett A. Wollman | The real tragedy of human existence is not that we are wollman@csail.mit.edu| nasty by nature, but that a cruel structural asymmetry Opinions not those | grants to rare events of meanness such power to shape of MIT or CSAIL. | our history. - S.J. Gould, Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness > In article <-JadnclWnfgdjujUnZ2dnUVZ_rvin...@vex.net>, > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > Opinions not those | grants to rare events of meanness such power to shape > of MIT or CSAIL. | our history. - S.J. Gould, Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness And there's an Isaac Asimov mystery story... |
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